Level indicator of interface between acid and hydrocarbon layers



C. R. WAGNER LEVEL INDICATOR OF INTERFACE BETWEEN ACID AND HYDROCARBON LAYERS Ongmal Flled May 19, 1944 May 8, 1951 INVENTOR C-. R. WAGNER BY ATTO NEY5 Patented May 8, 1951 r TWEEN ACID 7 LAYERS AND HYDRO CARBON Gary R. Wagner, Utica, Ohio, assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Original application May 19, 1944, Serial No. 536,356. Divided and this application July 24, 1945, Serial No. 606,869

7 2 Claims. (Cl. 73304) 1 This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 536,356, filed May 19, 1944 now patent No. 2,394,220, issued February 5, 1946. This invention relates to a control system for indicatin and/or recording the elevation of the interface between tWo substantially immiscible fluids of different specific gravities and different specific resistivities and is particularly adapted to be applied to tanks or other containers.

This invention relates particularly to the measurement of the elevation of the interface between a'corrosive substance such as hydrofluoric acid and some other substance such as hydrocarbon oils, and it finds particular relation to.

the alkylation of hydrocarbons by hydrofluoric acid.

This invention relates also to the provision of suitable means including a dynamic cathode relay control, various contacting and circuit breaking means, the use of shading coil reversible motors and recording and indicating means in relation to such a liquid level indicator and recorder.

In the alkylation of hydrocarbons byhydrofluoric acid a problem occurs in the separation of the two fluids in the separating tank, in that it is very hard to determine, and record the elevation of the interface between the fluids. The hydrofluoric acid is very corrosive and dangerous to human beings and so the use of trycocks is both messy and dangerous. The use of a float and connecting linkage is very unsatisfactory because the acid will corrode the float and render the linkage inoperative and the difference in specific gravity between the two fluids is often not great enough to give very much power to the float. The use of a gauge lass is of course impossible as the hydrofluoric acid attacks the glass. In fact, hydrofluoric acid will attack almost any transparent medium of which a gauge glass could be commercially constructed.

It is very important, however, to know where the interface is in the tank so as to allow proper separation. In the middle portion of the tank, the tank being generally cylindrical, there is more area provided for separation at the interface than when the interface is too high or too low. Also when the interface is too near an exit for one fluid someof the other fluid may pass out the exit, which is bad. Since the interface between the two liquids is always somewhat in definite as one separates out of the other it is evident that the solution of this problem requires invention. The mixture of acid and hydrocarbon may vary in content but the interface should be maintained in the central portion of the tank; and the separated acid and hydrocarbon should be removed continually from portions of the tank in which they have accumulated.

One object of the present invention is to provide an accurate indicator of the elevation of the interface between two substantially immiscible fluids of different specific gravities and different specific electrical resistivities which will not be affected by the corrosive or other deleterious nature of the substances and which willcontinu to operate over a long period of time.

Another object is to provide a recorder in com bination with such an indicator.

Another object is to provide automatic and positive operating means employing electronic circuits and relays, suitable motors and other suitable equipment to give smoothness and certainty of operation of such a device.

Another object is to only use low voltage nearthe hydrocarbon.

A further object is to provide a level indicator.

Numerous other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the accompanying specification and claims and studying the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: 1

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of an illustrative embodiment of theinvention with a wiring diagram of the electrical equipment employed therein; and

Figure 2 is an elevational view with parts broken away of a second type of electrode which may be employed in place of the type shown in Figure 1.

While the invention will be described in rela tion to a particular specific application thereof,

it will be seen that the invention is not limited thereto, and that while the fluids described will be hydrocarbon oil and hydrofluoric acid it Will be obvious that any two substantially immiscible fluids of different specific gravity and different.

specific electrical resistivities are suitable for the practice of the invention. The better conducting liquid may be above or below the less electrically.

conducting one, and While oil has a high resist-' ance and hydrofluoric acid a fairly low resistance. it is possible to apply the invention to twofluids which a layer of material having different specific resistivity may be floating. v

, Figure 1 therefore shows the invention as applied to thespecific problem of indicating and re' cording the level in tank 3 of interface 4 between a hydrocarbon oil 5 and hydrofluoric acid 6. A mixture of the oil and acid comes from an alkylator (not shown) through line I which may be provided with manually operated control valve 8. The oil 5 and acid 6 having difierent specific gravities and not having any physical affinity for each other immediately begin separating, the oil 5 being shown as rising to the top and the acid 6 as dropping to the bottom. The oil 5 is taken off through pipeline 9 which is shown on the top of the tank but which can be located in the side of the tank adjacent the top. Flow through line 9 is controlled by valve l which is operated by a motor |2. Acid '6 is drained from the bottom of tank 3 through line |3 controlled by valve |4 operated by motor 6.

Interface 4, is somewhat turbulent due to the stream of mixed liquids coming in from line and in the case of hydrocarbon oils and hydrofluoric acid the interface is somewhat fuzzy, that is at the interface there is a considerable extent of what might be termed an emulsion grading from pure oil at the top to pure acid at the bottom. While the invention is able to operate under such conditions, it is believed better to provide a stilling chamber, which is shown as a tube I! not quite touching the bottom of the tank and provided with a small hole l8 adjacent its upper end. Obviously, the liquids inside the stilling chamber will have more opportunity to separate and the interface will not be as fuzzy and will not contain waves of the magnitude of those occurring in the tank 3. However, by locating the invention in a remote portion of a tank it is not necessary to have stilling chamber l1 and therefore the invention is not limited thereto. In some instances it is useful to provide a stuffing box l9 containing the usual packing 29 but in many instances no stuffing box is necessary as the invention can operate through an open hole. In the present embodiment I prefer to employ a stufiing box in which is some suitable synthetic packing material not affected by hydrocarbons.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention shown a probing element 2| is provided preferably in the form of a cylindrical rod, which like tank 3 is made with a surface that i non-corrosive. Element 2| may be made of several separable parts one of which comprises an interface sensin section which contains electrical insulating rings 23, 24 and 25 of some materials such as synthetic rubber which will not be afiected by the hydrofluoric acid and which will not conduct electricity. Rings 23, 24 and 25 provide spaced electrodes 26 and 2! and electrodes 26 and 2'! are connected respectively to wires 28 and 29 for purposes to be explained later.

In order to move the probing element 2| in a vertical direction so that the control section consisting of electrodes 26 and 21 may be positioned at the desired elevation relative to interface 4, an arm 3| which may be connected to it by set screw 32' is provided. Arm 3| is rigidly connected to a motion producing screw 32, and vertical movement of element 2|, arm 3| and screw 32 is provided by motor 33 which drives pinion 34 which in turn drives pinion 35. Pinion 35 is screw threaded on screw 32, and a motor base 36 which is mounted on a frame 31 holds the pinions together. Frame 31 is rigid relative to tank 3.

An indicating pointer 38 is provided on arm 3| and a scale 39 may be mounted on tank 3 as one easy method of indicating the elevation of 4 pointer 38 and thereby the elevation of the lower control section of probing element 2|.

A recording system may be provided in the form of clock 4| driving paper 42 which may be marked with time interval marks 43. Any suitable linkage 44 and 45 may be provided to move inking apparatus 46 a reduced but proportionate distance across paper 42 as arm 3| rises and falls producing a record line 41 relative to time marks 43 and the linkage 45 may be supported by arm 48 mounted on a base 49. Base 49, like base 31, is rigid relative to tank 3.

In order to actuate motors l2, l6 and 33 in a proper manner at the proper time and for other purposes to be set forth an electrical system is provided. The electrical system may be subdivided into a power supply, a dynamic cathode relay control, a set of vertical movement actuated controls, and a vertical movement actuated circuit breaking and alarm system.

The dynamic cathode relay control will be described first. Wires 28 and 29 after leaving arm 3| are allowed to hang freely with considerable slack and may then pass into the usual conduit head 5| and through a conduit 52. While the entire system is preferably housed in suitable conduits and covered boxes (not shown) for the purposes of clarity the system is represented entirely by a wiring diagram. Wires 28 and 29 are connected to a bridge network at points 53 and 54 respectively.

The bridge network consists of fixed resistances 55 and 56 forming one side of the bridge and variable resistances 51 and. the resistance between electrodes 26 and 21 to which wires 28 and 29 lead, forming the other side of the bridge. A battery 58 is provided for energizing the opposite ends 54 and 59 of the bridge and a knife switch 6| may be provided to open the circuit when the bridge is not in operation.

Wires 62 and 63 lead from the midpoints of opposite sides of the bridge down to the dynamic cathode relay proper and wires 62 and 63 are connected together through resistances 64 and 65. Wire 62 leads to the grid of triode 66 and wire 63 leads to the grid of triode 61. The plates of triodes 66 and 6'! are connected together at 68 which point is also connected to central wire 69 containing battery H and knife switch 12. Switch 12 is opened when the relay is not being used. Central wire 69 also connects to resistances 64, 65, 13 and 14 as shown. The top of resistance 13 is tied to the cathode of tube 66 and to the grid of triode 15 through battery '16. Similarly the lower end of resistance 14 is tied to the cathode of triode 61 and also through battery 11 to the grid of triode 18. The cathode of triodes 15 and 78 are connected to central wire 69 at point 19 and to each other.

The plates of tubes 15 and 18 are connected together and to wire 69 at junction 8|; and between the plate of 15 and junction 8| is solenoid relay coil 82 while similarly located between the plate of triode 18 and junction 8| is solenoid relay coil 83.

Solenoid 82 closes a multiple switching device 84 in response to plate to cathode current in tube 15 and switch 84 opens by gravity when this current ceases. Solenoid 83 operates multiple switch 85 in a similar manner in response to plate current in tube 18.

The power supply system comprises wires 86 and 81 which may carry any available commercial current such as or 220 volts A. C. Wire 86 is easily traced to one of the power connections on each of motors I2, I6 and 33. Wire 8! passes through the circuit breaker 88 and continues as wire 89 which is easily traced to the other power terminal of motors I2, I6 and 33. Motors I2, I6 and 33 are shown as shading coil motors and their operation will be explained below.

The vertical movement actuated. circuit breaking and alarm system will now be described. Wire 9| is attached to power wire 86 and is provided with contact elements 92, 93. Mounted on top of arm 3| is a contacting arm 94 which is insulated from arm 3I by rubber section 95. Upon extreme upper travel of arm 3| contact 94 will connect contactor 92 and contact 96 while upon extreme downward movement 94 will connect contact 93 and contact 97. Contacts 92 and 96, are at the same elevation but may be adjustably set at any predetermined common elevation and the same is true of contacts 93 and 91.

Contact 96 connects to wire 98 which contains electric bell 99 and electric light IOI in parallel therein, line 98 extending to junction I02. Contact 9's connects to wire I03 which has bell I04 and light H in parallel therein and which also connects at junction I02. Bell 99 is preferably chosen to have an entirely difierent tone than bell I04 so that its sound may be distinguished easily by the operator and light IOI may be a blue light while light I05 may be red so that they may be easily distinguished by the operator.

From junction I02 current passes through circuit breaker operating solenoid I06 and wire I01 to the opposite power wire 9! thus completing the circuit.

The vertical movement actuated control for the shading coil reversible motors I2 and I6 will now be described. The shading coil reversible motor is well known in the art and such a motor 22 is provided with a coil around a portion of the stator pole the ends of the coil leading to wires I 08 and I09. A similar coil is provided around another portion of the stator pole and the ends of this coil are connected to wires I09 and III. Motors I6 and 33 are similarly equipped. When wires I08 and I09 of motor I2 are shorted the back E. M. F. in the shorted coil shifts the stator magnetic field and motor I2 rotates in one direction;

provided of course that current from wires 86 and 8I is being supplied to the motor. If wires I08 and I09 are not connected and wires I09 and III are shorted the other shading coil is shorted and the stator magnetic field shifts in the other direction causing rotation of the motor in the reverse direction. If wires I08, I09 and III are all connected together the motor does not turn but merely warms up a bit. The motor may be constructed with suitable electrical characteristics so that this warming up is not deleterious and the motor merely waits until the circuit between wires I08 and I09 or that between I09 and III is opened.

Wires I08 and I09 may be traced to contacts H2 and II 3 respectively and also to triple pole single throw switch II4 for purposes to be described later. may also be traced to contacts I I! and I I 0 respectively and to triple pole single throw switch H9 which switch will be described later.

Arm 3| has rod I2I mounted on the upper side thereof and slidably secured in an adjustable position on rod I2I by means of set screw I22 is a body I 23 having upper and lower contact arms separated by insulator I24.

electrical insulator I 25. Depending upon the po- Rod I2I contains an,

Wires H5 and H6 of motor I6 sition at which I23 is adjusted on rod I2I a oer- 'tain' amount ofupward movement of arm I3I lower contacts such as I28 in the same manner.

as body I23 engages upper contacts H2, H3, II! and I I8. By tracing them out it will be seen that the lower contacts such as I28 will short the opposite shading coils in motors I2 and I6 and cause motor l2 to open valve II and motor I6v to close valve I4.

The dynamic cathode relay in operating.

switches 84 and with switches H4 and H9 open will similarly short the shading coils of motor 33 causing motor 33 to raise or lower screw 32 and when switches H4 and H9 are closed switches 84 and 85 will also short the desired shading coils in motors I2 and I6 to operate them in thev proper manner. If both shading coils of a motor should be shorted at the same time no harm is done as the motor merely warms up a little and waits with its rotor stationary for a change in the situation.

Figure 2 shows a probing rod I29 similar to rod 2I except that the control section consists of two electrodes I 3i and I32 which are at the same elevation but which are separated from each other by T-shaped insulating material I33. In this modification wires 28 and 29 are connected respectively to electrodes I32 and I3I.

Operation Starting out with the acid 6 and hydrocarbon 5 each occupying half of tank 3 and with the interface 4, probing arm 2|, and other elements all as shown in Figure 1 and with switches 6I, I2, H4 and H9 closed, the operation of the device is as follows:

Suppose the percent of acid in the mixture of oil and acid coming in line I should increase.

Then with the present flow of oil out valve II,

and acid out valve I4, the acid will begin to build up in the tank and interface 4 will rise. As acid is a better electrical conductor than oil the resistance between electrodes 26 and 21 will go down and this will unbalance the bridge circuit. Resistance 51 will take most of the voltage drop between points 59 and 54 while resistances 56 and 55 will continue to divide the voltage drop as.

before.

This will make wire 62 become positive relative.

to wire 63 and a positive charge will overcome the negative bias on the grid of triode 66, which negative bias is caused by the voltage drop through resistance 64 fed by battery ll. grid of triode 61, however, goes still more negative so there is no opportunity for plate to cathode current in triode 61. When the grid of tube 66 is made positive enough by current from 62 building up a voltage across resistance 64 tube 66 becomes conducting and current flows from the plate to the cathode buildingv up a positive voltage at the top of resistance I3.

This positive voltage at the top of resistance I3 overcomes the E. M. F. of battery I6 and causes the grid of tube I5 to go positive enough to make tube I5 conduct plate to cathode current. The plate to cathode current of tube 15 is preferably much larger than the plate to cathodecurrent in tube 66 and this is known as amplification. The plate to cathode current in tube 15 passes through battery II and solenoid coil 82 raising switch 84 so that its three arms will connect the three sets of contacts, each arm connecting the two contacts shown directly above it. There being no current in coil 83 switch 85 remains open.

When switch 84 closes its contacts it is easily seen by tracing circuits that motor 33 has its upper shading coil shorted and immediately commences raising screw 32, arm 3| and rod 2| out of the acid until the resistance between electrodes 26 and 21 is the same as it originally was. This raising movement moves indicator 38 up relative to scale 39 so that the new level of the interface is indicated and rod 44 is also raised lowering ink pen 46 and making a record of the new position of the interface on paper 42 which is being driven slowly by clock 4|.

Switch H4 and H9 being closed motor I2 is actuated by switch 84 to close valve I I a little bit and motor I6 is actuated to open valve I4 a similar amount. This tends to take the acid out a little faster than the hydrocarbon and to bring the interface back toward its original position;

or if the percentage of acid is still increasing to' reduce the travel of the interface toward the top of the tank.

If switches H4 and H9 are open then switches 84 and 85 will only control motor 33 and will have no effect on motors I2 and I6. However, regardless of whether switches M and H9 are open or closed if the interface 4 continues to rise arm 3| will also continue to rise and, if the body I23 is properly adjusted, at a certain point in the rise of arm 3| contact |I2 will be connected to contact H3 and contact II! to contact H ll. This will immediately cause motor I2 to close valve II and motor I6 to open valve I4, which action will tend to stop the progress of the interface toward the top of the tank. While valves II and I4 could be closed completely, I prefer to have their closed position such that a small amount of flow will still continue so that a warning may be given in the following manner. While contacts 2, H3, II! and H8 may be positioned to be connected at the same moment that contacts 92 and 96 are connected it is preferred to have these contacts connected before contacts 92 and 9B are reached by arm 94. If the interface 4 continues, in spite of the controls provided, to the top of tank 3 (as would be the case if only acid were coming in line 'I) then finally bar 94 connects contacts 92 and 96. Current from wire 86 then passes through wire 9|, 92, bar 94, contact 96, wire 98 and rings bell 99- which has a tone of high pitch and lights blue light IIlI passing through coil I06 and wire It)? to wire 87 the current opens circuit breaker 88 and makes all the motors inoperative.

The operator recognizing the color of light IIII and/or the tone of bell 99, knowns that the acid has taken over the tank completely and he thereupon starts taking whatever corrective measures he deems proper without having to go to the tank or look at scale 39 or record 41 to see what to do. If the acid were low the light actuated would be red light I and the bell would be low toned bell I04 and the operator could take proper steps in such instances. While contacts 92 and 96 are shown in such a position that the tank would be completely full of acid before the alarm sounded obviously they may be positioned so that they will be contacted and the alarm will sound when the interface 4 reaches any desired elevation in which case a margin of safety may be provided.

Starting again with the apparatus and interface. as shown in Figure 1 and with switches 6|, 12, H4 and H9 closed if the interface should fall exactly the opposite things will happen as described above when the interface rose. The falling of the interface increases the resistance between electrodes 26 and 21 and the voltage drop across resistance 51 becomes low making wire 63 go positive relative to Wire 62. In a similar but reverse manner to that explained above tubes 61 and 18 now become conducting and switch is closed while switch 84 remains open.

Motor 33 immediately begins to bring arm 3| down, motor I2 opens valve II and motor I6 closes valve I4. Enough travel of arm 3| will operate the lower contacts I28, 93 and 91 in a similar manner as the upper contacts were operated as described above.

In many installations valve 8 may be omitted and also in many installations valve I I and motor I2 may be eliminated along with the contacts and wires of motor I2, because the operations of motor i6 and valve I4 will be found sumcient to control the elevation of interface 4.

Switches H4 and IIS may be opened and contacts such as IE2, Ill and H8 may be relied upon entirely. Motors I2 and It may be eliminated, and valves II and I4 manually operated in which case the dynamic cathode relay merely operates motor 33 to indicate the level of the interface 4. This is especially true in applications to a pool or stream in which case there is no tank 3. Obviously, the device would operate without making record 41, as arm 44 may be detached.

If the interface 4 between the two fluids is of sufficient width and varies in electrical resistivity according to elevation then the electrode of Figure 2 may be employed in which case the resistance between electrodes NH and I32 is applied to the bridge circuit in the same manner as the resistance between electrodes 28 and 21 as described above. While a specific embodiment employing hydrofluoric acid and hydrocarbon liquid has been described it is obvious that the two fluids may be changed as long as they are not miscible, have different specific resistivity and will separate under the influence of gravity. Either the upper or the lower may be more conductive of electricity than the other.

The dynamic cathode relay shown enables a very low voltage of battery 58 to be applied to electrodes 26 and 27. This is important because the voltage is too low to cause sparks or set things on fire. The hydrocarbons being often in the gasoline range, this prevention of fires is important. The various switches can be located in explosion proof boxes known to the e1ectrical trade, but electrodes 26 and 21 have to contact the hydrocarbon.

Hydrocarbons have a high resistance, and the resistance of substantially anhydrous hydrofiuoric acid, or of mixtures of oil and anhydrous acid, is not particularly low. So generally higher voltage electricity would have to be employed to pass enough current between the electrodes to operate relays directly. In so far as the general combination claimed, my invention can be practiced using high tension electricity and relays of the magnetic solenoid type, but it is preferred to use indirectly controlled relays, low electrode voltage, and amplification means to produce the relay operating currents. minishes in importance when the fluids are not inflammable, or subject to deleterious electrolysis.

The elements 55, 56 and 51' can be chosen of such size to position electrodes 26 and 2? at any desired normal elevation relative to the interface, and when Figure 2 is used in a variable content deep interface to place electrodes 13! and I32 at the desired elevation therein.

For adjustment of the normal elevation of the electrodes, resistance 51 is made variable and thus adjustment of elevation may be made without tearing the device down to replace resistances.

It is desirable to avoid hunting, or continuous operation of the motors. To avoid such continual raising and lowering of 3| it is necessary to have a lag in the operation so that 3| may be somewhat lower, or higher, than normal before the device automatically moves it to normal position. In order to provide this lag and avoid hunting it is only necessary to choose the right values for resistances 64, 65, I3 and 14, the right type of tubes 66, 61, 15 and I8 and the right size batteries H and '16. This selection of sizes and types is Well within the skill of the ordinary electrical engineer, or radio rapair man. Any desired lag can thus be selected, depending entirely on what lag appears to be desirable. Battery 1| puts a negative bias on the grids of tubes 66 and 61 biasing the tubes to cut-off while battery 16 does the same for tube 15 and battery 1! for tube 18. These negative biases must be overcome before the respective tubes will conduct.

by an extent depending on the tube characteristics which may be found in any electronic or radio tube manual. These biases are respectively overcome by voltages developed across resistances 64 and 65 by battery 58 and by voltage drops across resistances 13 and 14 developed by plate current in tubes 66 and 61 respectively.

Many changes of circuits following the standard circuits old in the art, and many substitutions of tubes or conventional elements having This preference di- 10 the same function may be done by those skilled 'in the art the scope of my invention being set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A level indicator for a container for two fluids in contact of different specific gravities and difierent electrical resistivities, comprising in combination two spaced electrodes normally immersed in said fluids respectively motor means to raise and lower the electrodes, 3, bridge circuit containing said electrodes as one resistance, means supplying current to opposite ends of the bridge, vacuum tube relay means actuated by unbalance of said bridge actuating said motor means to move said electrodes to restore the balance of said bridge, and means biasing said Vacuum tube relay means to make the relay lag in operation and avoid hunting.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the motor means comprises a shading coil reversible motor, said relay shorting the proper shading coil of said motor to actuate said motor in the proper direction.

CARY R. WAGNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,032,016 Hitner Feb. 25, 1936 2,104,525 Proskouriakoif Jan. 4, 1938 2,116,636 Neumann May 10, 1938 2,354,945 Cohen et a1 Aug. 1, 1944 2,366,694 Bender Jan. 9, 1945 2,376,459 Stevens May 22, 1945 2,376,878 Lehnhard May 29, 1945 2,382,516 Sprague Aug. 14, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 308,939 Germany Sept. 2, 1917 435,441 Great Britain Sept. 20, 1935 

1. A LEVEL INDICATOR FOR A CONTAINER FOR TWO FLUIDS IN CONTACT OF DIFFERENT SPECIFIC GRAVITIES AND DIFFERENT ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITIES, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION TWO SPACED ELECTRODES NORMALLY IMMERSED IN SAID FLUIDS RESPECTIVELY MOTOR MEANS TO RAISE AND LOWER THE ELECTRODES, A BRIDGE CIRCUIT CONTAINING SAID ELECTRODES AS ONE RESISTANCE MEANS SUPPLYING CURRENT TO OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE BRIDGE, VACUUM TUBE RELAY MEANS ACTUATED BY UNBALANCE OF SAID BRIDGE ACTUATING SAID MOTOR MEANS TO MOVE SAID ELECTRODES TO RESTORE THE BALANCE TO SAID BRIDGE, AND MEANS BIASING SAID VACUUM TUBE RELAY MEANS TO MAKE THE RELAY LAG IN OPERATION AND AVOID HUNTING. 